So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom Ps 90:12 asv

When thoughts of exiting this life and entering the next more frequently arise, we wonder whether our deposit in this earth has been something of value, something meaningful. Having walked at length in the principles of the Christian faith, we observe our current state and realize that we presently stand in the fruits of the faith that we have held for many years.

We wish, sometimes, we’d have travelled further, or had greater impact on those we have encountered on this trek.

Yet, here we are. Owners of the real estate on which our feet have tread. Here, due to how we have believed the word of God and the manner and degree in which we have put it into action.

If the fruitfulness has been far less than we had hoped, we have a dilemma. We may slip into disappointment or discouragement. Some will say, ‘I am not satisfied with the way I have believed nor the fruits that I have produced.'

Others will say it differently: ‘Well, it's too late to change. I am what I am. I have done what I have done. And I believe I have been right in how I have understood and practiced my faith.’

For the chronologically enhanced, changing from what we have long believed to pursue a more bold or controversial adventure of faith, is problematic. For one, those colleagues and friends who have known me for many years may now raise eyebrows in suspicion, being concerned that I may veer from the faith as we have all understood it, and the unity produced by that understanding. They’ll likely grow silent or withdraw.

Or two, those of us who have walked believing certain things about this kingdom of God face a different problem. If now we emphasize things that we’ve not previously emphasized, and take bold moves in directions that many of our contemporaries have resisted, will we not be admitting that some of our long-held beliefs have not proved satisfactory? Nor have they brought the outcomes we’d hoped for.

How very difficult to discover ourselves in places we never imagined our maps would take us. Or, to be far from the destination we set out to reach. Now comes the hard questions, the stark realities that we face, i.e., Did we perhaps err in how we understood and practiced our faith? Was our approach, or the emphasis we placed on some matters over others, appropriate?

We may also have to admit that we allowed the influence of other believers to curtail, modify, or dampen the fire of our faith. We may have to admit that we willingly reigned in our faith's passion in deference to others. That because of the fear of man, the fear of making errors of faith, fear of shipwreck, we kept our vessel moored at harbor.

Have we preferred the camaraderie of like-minded believers? Have we wanted the safety of their favor and agreement more than we embraced the courage required to break ground in promised lands to which faith's call to our heart beckoned? Is being adrift in the open, windless sea not simply another kind of shipwreck?

Did we embrace the comfort and stability of inclusion in familiar associations, at the expense of the higher destinations to which risk, courage and a narrower road might have brought us? And now do we say, ‘I more despise my caution?’

Are we ready to say, I am more willing to endure the consequences of pressing into exuberant, joyous, hope-filled faith to accomplish God's purposes in me, then I am content to remain in the mediocrity that my reason, caution, and fears have produced?

No, it’s not too late for change. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 2 Peter 3:8 We have today. That's plenty of time for the Father of Lights, to whom nothing is impossible.

And may we rise to trust in Him,
Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Ps 103:5

Is the Lord stirring a new direction within you? Or, perhaps, an old direction to freshly pursue? Let’s bless each other in these initiatives. Let's speak courage into our brothers' and our sisters' visions. Let’s feel the wind of the Spirit fanning our faith. Time's up . . . believe!

Remember a man of like passions, of like nature . . . Caleb. Read his story again, and be ignited.